These renderings show a renovated art room in Haynes (left) and a classroom in upper Haffenreffer
LOWER LEVEL ART ROOM
New Round of Campus Improvements Moves Ahead
G
reat schools don’t stand still. Head of School Ned Parsons has made the point many times, and by this reckoning, Rivers is great indeed. Now that The Revers Center for Science and Visual Arts is complete, the new athletics fields and the pavilion and patio are open, and the boardwalk over the wetlands is in place, the school’s attention has shifted to the next phase of updates to improve our students’ experience. The vision calls for the Prince, Carlin, Haynes, and Allen/ Lewis buildings, in addition to the classroom spaces in Haffenreffer, to be extensively renovated and reconfigured, turning them into fully refurbished and reimagined teaching, learning, and community spaces. The results will enhance Rivers’s Middle and Upper School programs, making them more conducive to 21st century academic needs, more reflective of the school’s interdisciplinary program, and better suited to collaboration and community-building. The renovations, already underway, will unfold in several stages. Over this past summer, two classrooms on the lower level of Haynes were refreshed, with a brighter, cleaner look featuring new windows, new projectors, white boards, furniture, and finishes that match those in The Revers Center. The space, currently being used for Middle School humanities, will be shifted to Middle School art rooms, with the necessary new equipment and fixtures, for the 2021 school year. The COVID crisis also necessitated the creation of a new health center in Haynes. Next up will be renovations to Prince, as well as to lower Carlin, scheduled for summer 2021. The reconfigured Prince building will house three classrooms, two of which will increase in size by 50 percent, with breakout spaces to allow greater instructional flexibility. Exterior windows will be replaced, using high-performance glass that admits plenty of daylight but improves insulation. A new gathering space gives students and teachers a place to convene and collaborate. Throughout the building—and in all of the renovated spaces— new finishes, lighting, and furniture will modernize the aesthetic of these learning spaces, bringing them to the level of The Revers Center.
UPPER LE CLASSRO
While Prince undergoes a renewal, work will also be done to the lower levels of Carlin, which will be home to the tutoring area, as well as new breakout/study spaces. The campus transformation will continue in the fall of 2021 with planned renovations to the Allen Building, which houses the Lewis Math and Science Center. The building will have dramatic open spaces and views of Nonesuch Pond. Once the renovations are completed, it will serve as the Middle School’s primary building. The configuration of the first floor of this building will be changed dramatically so that large rear windows overlooking Nonesuch Pond will flood this central community gathering space with natural light. That level will also be home to new Middle School science classrooms, as well as an office for the head of the Middle School. The lower level will house a suite for the IT department, renovated classrooms, and a maker space. In the summer of 2022, upper Haynes and Haffenreffer will both receive extensive facelifts, with new finishes throughout both buildings. Finally, a new campus gateway is planned, providing a clearer sense of “arrival” on campus, addressing parking and traffic-flow challenges, and setting the stage for future campus enhancements. None of this, of course, comes cheap. The total project cost is $9 million. Of this, $6.1 million remains to be raised in this final phase of the transformational FutureMakers campaign. The new slate of campus updates will require the Rivers community to build on the momentum of the past few years. The ultimate schedule and scope of the renovations will, of course, depend on the school’s ability to raise the necessary funds, but Parsons is optimistic the Rivers community is up to the task. “As the last round of campus improvements demonstrated,” he said, “this community is capable of doing whatever it puts its mind to, especially when the benefits to our students are so profound.”
fall 2020
| Riparian |
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